One Day We Change
by snowzone5
Summary: AU. Mike notices that one by one members of his family are not acting like his family. He notices that two of his friends, are acting weird, not themselves at all. And then some of his teachers. He knows there is a problem when Troy stops bullying him. Through all that he still can't get the courage to talk to El the girl he has a major crush on. Mileven.
1. Chapter 1

Mike groaned and got out of bed. Another day of school, another day of hanging out with the Party.

Another day of trying to work up the nerve to talk to El.

He sighed, and said to himself, "what can I do different? I can't change who I am. I'm a nerd. If she doesn't like nerds, I'm screwed. The whole party is screwed for girlfriends, not just me."

It wasn't like she actively ignored him, she had actually looked at him and smiled once. A few times actually, but in the last few days she just looked at him like he was contagious.

Mike hopped in the shower and went downstairs for breakfast. His mother said "good morning" and gave him a kiss on the cheek and he rolled his eyes.

Nancy grabbed a piece of toast on the table put it in mouth and mumbled around it, "I'm off to meet Jonathan."

Mike's father looked up at Nancy, but didn't say anything about her talking with food in her mouth.

Mike was out of the house in record time and peddled his way to school. He saw two or three white vans from Hawkins lab on his way there, but that wasn't anything unusual. After some fiasco a few years ago, they'd kept a low profile, but still maintained a presence on the streets of Hawkins. Nobody had any idea what the lab did anymore, but Mike was sure it had nothing to do with the "Department of Energy".

Mike met that rest of the Party who were already waiting for him at the bike rack.

"...and I'm telling you she's acting weirder than normal." Lucas was saying.

"What's up guys," Mike said.

Dustin said, "Lucas was telling me that Erica, was acting weird."

"I thought you said that she was always acting weird?" Mike said.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "I just finished telling Dustin that she's acting weirder than normal. She left her favourite doll outside last night. She would _never_ do that." Lucas was shaking his head.

"And why are you so concerned about your sister's favourite doll?" Dustin asked.

"I"m not, but it's just a matter of time before she finds a way to blame it on me. Somewhere along the line this is going to be my fault."

"Shit, here comes Troy."

"Hey frogface."

Mike looked down, wondering what punishment Troy would mete out to him today. He was pushing bikes over on is way to confront the Party, his leg got tripped up on one, and he went down face first into the gears of a ten speed. His lip split open, his nose looked like it might have been broken, and Mike was sure he saw him spit out a tooth. He ran away crying.

Dustin looked back and forth between Lucas and Mike, shrugging. "That was fortuitous."

Will skidded to a stop in front of them, looking at Troy's retreat into the school.

"Hi Will." Mike said.

Will gave him a blank stare and said, "hello." He parked his bike, adjusted his backpack and walked towards the school entrance.

"Something wrong with Will." Lucas asked?

Mike shrugged, "not that I know of. He's quieter than usual."

"Here she comes," Dustin said with a big grin on his face."

"Who?" MIke looked around.

"Are you guys seriously that dense. Who." Dustin hmmphed. "Max Mayfield and her best friend El Hopper. That would be the two girls you guys can't keep your eyes off of," Dustin looked back and forth between this two best friends.

Both Lucas and Mike looked down, suddenly interested in how well the grass was growing beneath their feet.

"I don't know why you just don't ask them to sit with us at the Party table during lunch."

"Why would a pret- why would girls like that be interested in sitting with us Dustin. _Regular_ nerds won't sit with us. That's how nerdy we are. Two girls. You can't make a high enough save roll for that to happen."

"Just ask Mike, the worst thing that can happen is she says 'no' ." But if she says 'yes', if either one of them says yes, then the other will come for moral support. It's easier for you Mike, your locker is right beside El Hopper's."

Lucas looked at Dustin, "you're not selling it very well."

"He's got a point Lucas." Mike gave them both a deep sigh. "I'll give it a shot. Nothing else has worked,"

"What else have you tried?" Dustin said.

"Um, nothing I guess." Mike was looking down clobbered by Dustin's logic.

"Well, there you go."

Mike made his way to his locker, El was at hers. She turned to look at him. She had a deadpan expression.

"Um, hi El."

She couldn't have looked less interested in anything further Mike might have said if she had tried.

"Hello." She said in a monotone voice and turned back to her locker.

Oh, man. Mike thought to himself. You have your basic cold fish, and then you have El Hopper. Queen of the Cold Fish.

She turned back to look at him. "Can I help you."

"Not anymore," Mike mumbled mostly to himself. El had just trampled his soul. The dream of talking to her was gone. The dream of holding her hand was dead. The dream of kissing her had been shattered into a billion unrecognizable pieces, with those pieces hammered into dust and scattered to the wind.

Mike opened his locker as was able to block off his view of her with the door. He put his head down concentrating on getting his books . He was close to done. Defeated in a battle he never got to engage in.

What happened? She at least used to smile at him, but today. She was like a perfectly constructed android lacking any personality or warmth.

If she wasn't so pretty Mike would have just given up, he decided to give it one more shot. He closed the locker door, to face her again.

The smile El gave him with her eyes would have leveled a mountain range.

Whoa!

"El?" Mike could barely talk.

"I'm sending mixed signals. I know. I had to be sure."

Mike was a little confused. He didn't know El was… um odd. He wasn't exactly ready for that. If she turned out to be really flakey, then Mike was… he didn't know what he was. He was conflicted now. . Pretty or not, he didn't want to be the guy with the weirdo girlfriend.

Ok, maybe he _did_. They would make the perfect pair. Mike smiled inwardly.

"Sure of what?" Mike said.

"That you were really you."


	2. Chapter 2

"That I was still me? Um, I don't understand, El. I was just going to ask you if you and your friend Max wanted to sit with us at the Party table. Uh, that's what we call the table we sit at."

"I'm sorry Mike. I'm pretty sure one of your friends… isn't one of your friends. Can you do me a favour. Can you check under your bed tonight for something… weird?"

"Um, El, I haven't been scared of monsters under my bed for at least ten years now."

"Mike," she grabbed him by the shoulders and looked at him her beautiful eyes boring into him. "Please Mike, check underneath your bed tonight."

"What If I _do_ see something… weird?"

"Sleep in the basement, or outside the house in a tent if you can. You can't tell anyone else in your family."

"Uh, El. I'm finding this whole thing kind of… odd."

"I know, Mike, I'm not a weirdo. I… want us to try and hug each other every day. If it gets worse I'll try to explain more, until then, trust me. Ok?" El was looking around to see if anybody had taken notice of their conversation.

"I don't know, El." Mike didn't know what to do. He really really liked El, but this was… strange.

El looked at him, the agonized look in her eyes made Mike's heart skip a beat.

She sighed, "a hug isn't going work Mike. We can't be sure with just a hug." She leaned in, tilted her face up towards him and gave him a soft kiss, lingering for a few seconds in time for Mike to kiss her back just as softly.

Neither knew their hearts beat in synchronized time with their promise to each other.

" _That_ is what a real kiss from me feels like. Can you remember that?"

Mike looked down, "probably for the rest of my life." El smiled at him and nodded. "Me too Mike."

"Are you ok if we do that everyday?" El looked at him turning a shade of red and then looked down.

"Did you just ask Mike Wheeler if it was ok for him to kiss the prettiest girl in the school? Everyday?"

The crimson in El's cheeks deepened.

"The hardest part..." El had that serious look in her eyes again and her voice was a little shaky, "the hardest part Mike, is that if either of us _don't_ feel that. We have to let that person go… forever. If my kiss leaves you cold Mike, I'm gone, the real me is gone, and I'm never coming back. And if," Mike saw a tear roll down her cheek, "if I don't _feel_ your kiss, you will never kiss me again. You will never talk to me again." El wiped her eyes,

"Promise me, Mike."

"I don't' understand, El. But I promise." Mike was back to feeling off about El. What the hell was going on?

"I like you Mike, we don't have to kiss just for _that_ reason. We can kiss anytime you want." She gave him a brilliant smile, "like this."

Her kiss stopped Mike's heart. He couldn't catch his breath. His kiss must have matched hers because when they parted. El put her hand over her heart and was breathing deeply. Her eyes looked back and forth between his, filling with wonder. She laid her head on his shoulder her mouth inches from his ear.

"You're my first kiss." They both said it at the exact same time. They both broke into a chuckle.

"Mike, I will act different at lunch. I have to. I don't mean anything by it. I'm just being careful. Don't make a big deal out of it, ok?"

"Ok, El, I don't understand. I'll… play along."

* * *

Mike felt _off_ at the Party table. Will was quieter than normal, not engaging in the conversation. He seemed indifferent to the the topics the the rest of them were animated about. Mike tried to get his attention a few times. Will continued looking around the room at various people.

Will was Mike's best friend, and Will looked at him, _through_ him, as if he didn't exist. Maybe he was having problems at home? Ordinarily Mike could ask him what was going on, and after some coaxing Will would open up. After what El and said earlier, Mike was beginning to feel a little funny about talking to him.

And then there was El. She was acting just like Will. She barely looked at him, and when she did, it was like he was an uninteresting shaped rock sitting on the ground. Not even worth picking up to throw away.

Mike had never felt so alone in his life. His best friend, the girl he liked, the girl he had _kissed_ , and who had kissed him just a few hours before, looked and acted _cold_. Unfeeling.

One thing Mike knew for sure, he didn't really want to be around Will if he was going to be like this. A friend is supposed to be a friend. If they have a problem with you they should just come right out and tell you. Not make you guess, or wonder, or feel like shit. That's not what friends did. Well, that's not what they were supposed to do anyway.

And he didn't really want to be around El when she was like this. Mike was positive that his heart was physically hurting, in some kind of distress.

He didn't like that version of El at all, he wasn't supposed to make a big deal out of it. He was having a hard time. He felt like shit. The whole day felt like shit. He really wished he knew what was going on.

* * *

At their lockers, El turned to him. Her cheeks were stained with tears. "I'm sorry Mike. That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

His El was back!

"I'm not going to pretend I liked it, El, you _did_ say you were going to do that. It didn't feel very good. If I never have to see you that way again it will be too soon."

Fresh tears sprung from her eyes. "When I saw you looking at me like that…" El shook her head, "I need a kiss." Her voice was scarcely above a whisper.

Mike held her face in his hands and brushed away the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. He looked into her eyes, they pulled him towards her. Mike had no choice, he leaned in and kissed her. His lips felt her soft yielding ones respond. They kissed like that for a few minutes.

When they parted, El, her eyes wide and breathless said, "wow, when I said I needed a kiss, I wasn't expecting _that_. Thank you Mike."

Mike looked down, "um, El, uh, are we going out now?"

"No girl can be kissed like that without saying 'yes' to being asked… if that's what your asking." She was suddenly shy, unsure of herself, and blushed a little.

Mike nodded. "You're the first girl I've ever asked, El. I've liked you for a long time. It was hard for me to come over because you were always with Max. Max doesn't look like anyone you want to get pissed off at you."

"She's very protective, she's kept the mouthbreathers like Troy away from me."

"Think I could hire her as a bodyguard?" Mike chuckled, " I got lucky this morning, he was clumsy and paid for it."

El looked at him with absolutely no expression on her face. "Thank goodness he was clumsy then."

"Mike, it's important now that we are together. I need you to check-"

"Under the bed, El, I promised I would." Mike was smiling.

"I'm serious Mike," she looked into his eyes. "I can't protect you if we aren't together. I can't lose you. Not now."

"You won't lose me, El. I'll be careful."

"I'm going to tell my dad I have a boyfriend now."

"Oh, um, ok, so what's my life expectancy going to be?" Mike said only half joking.

"If you treat me right, a good long life. If not…" El said her eyes twinkling.

They held hands as they walked outside to the bike rack where El was waiting for her ride.

Mike felt his hands get a little sweaty when he saw Chief Hopper's truck pull into view.

"Relax Mike, I'll give my dad the seal of approval."

Mike wasn't expecting Hopper to get out of truck and walk towards them. Up close Hopper was an imposing figure, he towered over the two of them.

El stood in front of her dad and just looked at him. She began playing with a blue band on her wrist, just staring at him. Hopper and El nodded at the same time and she melted into him and hugged his middle. He kissed the top of her head, his eyes closed for a moment.

Mike knew that something necessary and unspoken had just happened between them. And something had happened in their past. Something important and life changing.

"Dad, I want to meet my boyfriend, Mike Wheeler. It's really him."

Hopper nodded. He looked at El, "did you tell him to check-"

"Yes, dad. Told him to sleep in the basement or outside if he could. And not tell anybody."

Hopper walked away, stuck his head in the driver's side window. It looked like he was rummaging around for something.

He pulled his head back out, walked back to them and handed Mike a police radio.

Mike took it and looked back and forth to Hopper and El.

"You are important to El, so you are important to me. If you see anything weird, you call me." Hopper leaned forward and stared into Mike's eyes with a scary intense gaze. It could have melted steel.

"You _call_ me."

"Uh, what channel, Sir?"

"Eleven," Both Hopper and El said at the same time.

El and Mike were drawn into another kiss, Hopper turned away and got into his truck.

When they parted, El reluctantly turned away from him went around to the passenger side of the truck.

Both Hoppers nodded to him before the truck shifted into gear and sped off.


	3. Chapter 3

"I, Mike Wheeler, have a girlfriend." Mike said aloud. Not just any girl either. El Hopper. Prettiest girl in the school. Chief Jim Hopper's daughter.

"Not only that, " Mike was practicing what he would say to the Party. "I kissed her." Ok, it was more like they kissed each other. It was mutual, that was the important thing.

Mike decided he would _not_ tell the party about the checking under the bed thing. Especially not if Will was there.

And… wait!

Did El say she couldn't protect him if they weren't together? She said 'protect'. Sure the Chief could look after both of them. El? She was a waif of a girl. Mike wasn't the rugged strong type by any means. He wouldn't be able to shield her from harm. That thought pained him a little. He might not be able to keep her from being hurt. But for sure El was never going to be able to protect him if he were truly in trouble.

Mike got out of bed and checked underneath it. All clear. Out of curiosity, he ran into Holly's room, and checked under her bed. Also clear.

He knocked on Nancy's door, and heard, "come in." Mike entered and Nancy looked up at him.

"I thought you were Mom, what do you want Mike."

Mike thought quick, "I was missing a Star Wars figure, and I wanted to check to see if maybe Holly hadn't left it under your bed."

Nancy waived her hand in the direction of edge of the bed, "go ahead. God forbid you lose track of your nerd toys."

Mike looked at her, "first off it's not a nerd toy, well, it is, it's also an original Boba Fett action figure. It will be worth money someday. I don't really play with them anymore Nance. I like them displayed on my bookshelf."

"Whatever Mike, check it and get out, I'm studying for an important test tomorrow."

Mike got under the bed, lifted the blanket that was blocking his view, an peaked under.

That's when he saw it. He backed out quick and was breathing heavy.

Nancy rolled her eyes and said, "what's wrong did you find a monster instead. You're too old for that bullshit now."

When she didn't get a response, she put down the textbook she was studying from and looked at Mike. He looked terrified, pointing underneath her bed.

Nancy rolled her eyes, "I swear Michael Wheeler if this is some kind of prank, you're going to wish you'd picked a better night to try it."

She got down off the bed crawled beside her brother, pulled up the blanket in a flourish exposing the entire area under her bed with the light from the room.

She stared at what she saw underneath the bed. Then she crawled halfway under and pulled out what Mike had seen. With her bare hands.

"Mike, " she said slowly.

"This is probably the worst rolled, creepiest sleeping bag I've ever seen. Mike… but it's just a sleeping bag and I don't think any monsters can get into it."

She could see a Mike's shoulders slump with immense relief, he turned towards her and hugged her tightly. "Thanks Nance, can you check for me every night?"

Nancy was going to say something insulting, using her big sister obligatory prerogative. Instead she hugged her little brother back just as tightly.

"What's going on Mike?"

"El told me to check under my bed tonight. I thought I would check your's and Holly's also."

"Holly-"

"It's clear," Mike said.

"Who's El?"

"El Hopper, she's my girlfriend now." Mike said a little dreamily

A slow smile worked its way across Nancy's face. "My little brother has a girlfriend. Is she pretty?"

"She's um, the prettiest girl in Hawkins Middle."

"So why's she going out with you?" Nancy said teasing him.

"Probably for the same reason Jonathan is going with you," Mike could be just as insulting. He instantly regretted it when he saw Nancy's expression harden, "sorry Nance, I didn't mean it. El and I really like each other." He looked down.

Nancy's face softened to a smile again. "I deserved it, I didn't mean it either MIke. I'm really happy that you two found each other. Now you only have to meet the Chief. I feel for you Mike, that's not going to be easy."

"We've already met. He's ok with it. I think El has a lot of influence on him. He didn't give me the third degree or anything."

"You have a girlfriend now, you can't spend as much time with your party friends." Nancy said getting the entire Party thing completely wrong.

"You have to treat her right. Make her feel special. Everyday. You won't go wrong with that."

"Thanks Nance. I don't want to screw this up... hanging out with the Party was a little weird today, especially Will."

"Oh?" Nancy said, "Jonathan mentioned that Will hasn't been quite himself."

"He must be going through something. He hasn't said anything to us, or even just me." Mike said.

"Give him his space, you know Will is different than the other guys, more sensitive. Like you Mike. That's probably why you get along so well with him compared to the other guys."

Mike gave his sister another hug, "thanks again Nance." He got up to go back to his room.

* * *

Mike dreamed of El. He dreamed she was in trouble and he couldn't get to her. He was being kept from her with a series of annoying incidents and obstacles that drove him to screaming in frustration, finally waking himself up in the morning in a hot sweat.

He was disoriented waking up so quick. The bad dream was quickly fading. Completely replaced with the full realization that he had a girlfriend. Not just _any_ girlfriend. El Hopper. Prettiest girl in Hawkins Middle. No contest.

"El Hopper is my girlfriend." Mike felt giddy just saying it out loud. His heart was pounding at the thought of kissing her again. Anytime, she had said. He could literally walk up to her anywhere and kiss her, and she would kiss him back. Anytime.

Mike glided downstairs to the kitchen. He was sure that his feet hadn't actually touched any of the stairs, he didn't really remember the shower or even going downstairs. The next thing he knew he was making himself some Eggos.

Mike's dad took his eyes off the paper he was reading. It didn't seem like the sight of Mike had actually registered in his brain. He went back to his paper.

His mother came into the kitchen, said "good morning" and kissed him on the cheek. Mike rolled his eyes. Nancy had left almost half an hour early to get some last minute studying done before her big test.

At the bike rack, everyone including Max were there. Will was not. Dustin and Lucas looked to be in a heated conversation.

"You finding any more of Erica's dolls for your collection?" Mike said a big smile on his face.

"Not funny, Mike. I found _all_ of her dolls in the backyard. She must have taken everyone from underneath her bed and thrown them out on the lawn."

"Have you been blamed for it yet?" Mike tried to keep it light. _Underneath her bed_. That's what Lucas had said.

"No, I hit them with logic. I told my parents that we might fight and not respect each other's privacy more than we should, but I knew better than to throw her favourite dolls outside."

"They buy that?" Max said.

"It's the truth. I wouldn't want her doing that to my stuff. So I won't do it to hers." Lucas said.

Dustin hadn't said anything, but finally piped up. "My Mom's acting weird."

"I thought your mom always acted a little bit crazy." Mike said.

"Not when it comes to Mews."

"Did she eat your cat?" Max said.

"No. Max. She didn't eat my cat. She let him in from outside and accidentally closed the door on his tail. Mews screamed like a banshee. That would have been enough for my mom to call every vet in the tri-county area while feeding him six cans of his favourite cat food. She just opened the door and he ran off to his bed sulking. That's what Mews does. My mom should have spent the next two hours trying to get him to come out. Instead she turned on the TV and watched the news."

"That doesn't sound like your Mom." Mike said.

"Yeah, that's why I said she's acting weird."

"Shit, here comes Troy." Sure enough Troy was making his way over to them pushing over bikes like he did the day before. And just like the day before his foot got caught up in a bike's working and he went down face first on another bike. He re-broke his nose, and took a handlebar grip full in the mouth, if he hadn't spit out any teeth, Mike was sure he would have swallowed them instead.

Mike made his way to the locker. El had her locker open. She didn't turn to look at him as he opened his own. He took a glance over,

Mike's heart fell to his stomach. He hadn't seen eyes that dull before. Shit. No way he was going to try to kiss El with that eyes that looked like that. It would be like kissing rotted meat, maybe worse. He didn't need to kiss her to know she was lost to him forever. She looked like a soulless human.

Mike thought was going to start crying right there in his locker. His breathing hitched once but he managed to strangle it off and keep it together. He had a girlfriend for a whole day before someone, _something_ stole her away. Mike figured he might be sad for the rest of his life but he would also spend the rest of his life finding out what was going on and fighting it with everything he had.

With a determination he didn't think he possessed, he turned towards her. "I don't know who or what kind of thing you are. You took away the girl I love I will make sure you suffer for it. You want to know what a human can do when he's mad? You just wait, you have no idea what humans are capable of when we need to be. I promise I will see you burn."

The thing that called itself El Hopper, looked at back at him with the uncaring eyes of a corpse.

And then she burst into tears. Between sobs, El managed to say, "I love you too, Mike." She fell into Mike's arms.

Mike was stunned. "El? I thought..."

She kissed him. He could easily tell by her kiss that she was his El. He kissed her back, he didn't want to leave any room for doubt in her mind that he was still the real Mike.

"El, you scared the shit out of me. I thought..."

"I'm a good actress." She gave him a faltering smile, then stopped and looked down, "I'm really sorry, Mike, it broke my heart to see that look on your face. It looked… like you didn't love me anymore." Another surge of tears. Mike kissed them away as fast as they appeared.

After a minute, he pulled back from his barrage of kisses and looked at her. El was still sniffling, but the tears had stopped. She had a weak smile.

"I'm sorry MIke, I'm not this weepy. This has been hard on me and… I've never been in love before, I only had my dad to worry about. Now I have to keep you safe from those… things."

Mike kissed her again. He kissed her like it was going be his last time.

"Mike," she said breathless against his mouth. "You will kiss me like this again. I promise."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry for the late post. Had to rewrite this chapter and the next one to dig myself out of a hole that happened in a later chapter. It's mostly filler and** **fluff with a few clues thrown in.**

* * *

At lunch El was acting again. And this time Max was too. He could see that Lucas was visibly upset. El was so good at it that Mike was both impressed and depressed at the same time. She was acting the same as Will was acting, only Mike was sure that Will wasn't acting. El had said that Will was no longer the friend he knew.

That's what bothered Mike the most was that if Will was no longer his friend, or even the person he knew, then he had lost a good friend.

Mike had lost a friend.

Mike felt sick to his stomach. From what El had said Will was lost to him forever. Losing a long time friend was bad. It was one of the worst feelings in the world.

Maybe if Will had said something to him Mike could have helped? Will hadn't said anything, maybe he didn't even know he had changed. Or he did, and wasn't going to tell Mike about it.

Mike was getting angry, he felt like punching Will for not asking for help, he took a quick glance at El and she gave the slightest imperceptible head shake, as if she knew what he was thinking doing. Mike calmed down. El was still with him.

Damn, she was scary when she was acting like that. He was scared to death of her being like that for real.

Losing a good friend was one thing. Losing someone you love... Mike could not even comprehend how that that would feel. He would shut down, he wouldn't even be able to think or function.

Mike couldn't wait till lunch was over so he could tell El he loved her. He almost blurted it out at the table. He stopped himself though, he didn't want to expose El.

He and El didn't have a lot of classes together. Only and English class and Mr. Clarke's Earth class. The last one of the day. El wasn't his lab partner in Earth, Max was. Max had never said a word to him outside of the lab work for the entire year.

Mike was on his way to to his second last class of the day, when he saw El coming from the opposite direction. She wasn't looking at him. She was stone faced, zero expression on her perfectly sculpted elfin features. As he passed her by, he leaned slightly towards her and said, "I love you" and continued walking on.

Mike couldn't see as El walked past him, but an almost undetectable smile revealed itself on her face for a split second.

Mr. Clarke's class was going to be the worst class of the day. Sure El was in his class, he could sneak peaks at her, but she sat on the other side of the room. Max was trying to act the way El did at lunch. She wasn't very good at it, although it had been enough to bother Lucas.

Mr. Clarke couldn't have sounded more bored to be teaching the class. He was slightly stooped over like he had a bad back and couldn't stand up straight. Mike looked over at Lucas wide eyed, Lucas shrugged. Dustin was confused. Mr. Clarke didn't call on him the entire class for even for one answer.

Even Max asked Mike what was wrong with Mr. Clarke. There was a reason he was the Party's favourite teacher. If he had turned into _this_ , whatever this was, what were they going to do?

Mike felt helpless, he needed more information. The only person he knew who had that was El. He would ask her when they got to their lockers after class.

* * *

At their lockers, El said, "Mr. Clarke is one of them. Only different, I'm not sure what's going on."

Mike was totally bummed out. He'd lost his favourite teacher. El gave him a hug, "I'm sorry Mike, I know he was one of your favourites."

They walked out to the bike rack hand in hand. Mike had his head down the whole way.

"You ok, Mike?" El asked. She had tilted her head to get a better look at his face.

"With everything that's going on, or what we think is going on. I can't believe you're my girlfriend. That we've actually kissed. I don't think my feet have hit solid ground yet."

El smiled back at him, "I took a big chance just smiling at you… it was very forward of me to kiss you, not knowing if you even liked me or not. No guy in the entire school year has even looked at me. Because of who my dad is, word got around that I was off limits. I was lonely… I took a chance. My heart was pounding, Mike."

El looked back towards the school and said, "when you told me you loved me…"

Mike turned to her and gave her soft kiss. "I do El. We get through this together. I'm, um, afraid I won't be able to help you if you really need me. I'm not that strong."

"Mike," She felt his biceps, "this is not where you need to be strong." She tapped his temple, " _this_ is where you are strong."

Then she tapped his heart, "you've already saved me with this. It's the strongest part of you. It will always be the strongest part of El Hopper's boyfriend."

El put her hand behind his neck and gave him a firm kiss. "Remember, check for monsters underneath the bed tonight." She tried joking, but then turned turned solemn, "Please check Mike. And call on the radio if you see anything."

* * *

When Mike was coming up to his house, he saw Nancy talking to somebody in a white van. One of the Hawkins Lab vans.

She saw Mike, nodded to one of the guys in the van and went back in the house.

What was _that_ about?

If Mike had been forced to write an essay about the Wheeler family dinner that night, he would gotten and bad mark and failed completely. The only words to describe it would have gone something like:

"It was like a funeral… but less enjoyable."

Holly was quiet, his Mom didn't go on and on asking about his or Nancy's day. Nancy said nothing about her upcoming date with Jonathan that night. HIs dad was being his dad. Mike would never know if he really him or not. He could have been taken over by an alien pod years ago and nobody would ever have known, including his mom.

Mike wanted to test something. He purposely left half his food uneaten. He'd lost his appetite for the entire day anyway. He got up without a word and left the table and went to his room

His mom said nothing. Mike had an uneasy feeling in his stomach. His mom?

Mike lay on his bed reading comics but he couldn't concentrate. He wasn't enjoying the latest issue of any comic he had.

Nancy might have had a bad day with her test, so he could see Nancy being a little quieter than usual. His mom was a chatter box. The exact opposite of his dad.

There was a knock on his door, and Mike automatically said ,"come in." He didn't really want to talk to any members of his family right now.

It was Jonathan. He entered quickly and closed the door behind him. Mike didn't think he'd said two words to him since he started going out with Nancy, so this probably wasn't going to be awkward at all.

"Have you and your friends talked to Will at all in the last few days? Played any D&D?"

"He's kind of avoided us. Avoided talking to us anyway. He hasn't been himself."

"Will always talks to me, and I know he talks to you. It doesn't sound like he's talked to either of us the last few days. And now Nancy is acting funny."

Mike said, "she was quiet at dinner. I thought maybe her test didn't go as well as it could have."

"She didn't even show up for the test. Harrington told me, one of her friends asked him if she was ok."

Mike sat up straight. Nancy didn't show up for a test? Something was definitely wrong with her. There hadn't been anything under her bed. Could El be mistaken?

"Shit." MIke said.

"Yeah, I know. I supposed to take your sister out tonight. I'll see if I can find out what's going on." Jonathan left.

There was nothing underneath his bed. Mike wasn't able to get to sleep anyway.

* * *

He got up early in the morning, showered before anyone else and went to the kitchen.

The Eggos tasted like cardboard to him.

His mom didn't say good morning, and didn't kiss him on the cheek.

Mike rode his bike to school, crying the entire way.


	5. Chapter 5

Max and Lucas were waiting for him at the bike rack. The were holding hands. El Hopper, his girlfriend was waiting also. She took one look at his face and wrapped her arms around him.

"Bad day Mike?" Lucas said, there was genuine sympathy from his best friend.

"Yeah, I don't think my mom… is my mom anymore." El held his hand tightly. He looked at Lucas and Max's hands in order to change the subject.

"When did that happen?" He referred to their joined hands.

"I wanted to kiss Lucas," Max said, "so I told him to ask me out." Mike looked Lucas.

"I'm weak, I caved. Who can say 'no' to a pretty redhead?"

"There's nothing like having someone there for you is there?" Mike said standing even closer to El, giving her a quick glance.

"No, there really isn't." Lucas said giving Max a similar glance. Both girls were blushing slightly.

"Ok, what am I seeing over there?" Mike was looking over Lucas's shoulder.

Lucas turned to look, "That's Dustin walking with Will… and Troy."

El's face darkened and she tilted her head slightly forward.

The three of them looked like they were having a serious conversation, finally Troy nodded to Dustin and Will and walked off by himself.

El's face softened. "Mike, I don't think that's Troy anymore."

"Of course it's Troy," Lucas said.

Dustin had kind of a blank expression on his face when Mike asked him, "How's your mom?"

"My mom is fine, I think I overreacted, she's perfectly fine."

El and Max had adopted vacant looks on their faces. Lucas looked unhappy almost immediately.

El did not hold Mike's hand on as they walked to their lockers. She stared straight ahead and would not even glance at him.

Once her locker door was open Mike heard her say quietly. "I'm sorry Mike, I can't show any affection towards you while we are at school. You know I love you, right? When we are alone together it will ok. But for now..."

Mike nodded. Her reassurances to him helped a little. "What about Max and Lucas?" He said.

"Max is telling Lucas the same thing."

"I can tell he's not happy about it. He knows less than I do."

"Max called me crying last night, Lucas said they couldn't be together if he didn't tell her what what going on. She doesn't know, and even I don't know everything. It's hard for me Mike. If I tell you too much, I put you in danger. It puts my dad and I in danger. All my friends."

"I trust you El, tell me when you can."

El looked around to see if anybody was watching them. She was satisfied nobody would see her and gave Mike a quick kiss and a beautiful smile. "I can't risk any more, Mike."

"It's ok El, you already made my day. I love you." El nodded, her lip trembled a bit . She recovered and the blank expression took over her face again.

Mike thought he would help El by avoiding her all day. He didn't know that she looked forward to their brief sightings.

* * *

It was one of the worst school days Mike had ever endured. He missed Will. He missed Dustin. Lucas wasn't talking to him, still having a problem with Max and he obviously blamed Mike's girlfriend. And he missed El. More than he thought was possible given their new relationship. At the end of the day she wasn't there at her locker, Mike was glad in a a way, he hated seeing her dull face even knowing that she was faking it. When he opened his locker door there was a note waiting for him on the inside:

Mike, check under the bed.

I love you.

El.

Mike's heart soared. She was still looking out for him! All he could think about while biking home was El's smile. She was so pretty, he didn't know what she saw in him but he was glad. He would never take her for granted.

Mike took a bit of a detour and went to Benny's for a takeout burger and fries. His plan was to take it directly to his room and eat it there. He was the sure change in his regular home schedule wasn't going to be questioned by anybody his family.

He was seeing the white lab vans everywhere. Something big must be going on in Hawkins. Mike wondered if they knew the same things El did and were working to stop what was happening.

He snuck into his basement and ate his burger there. He waited till he knew everyone had gone to bed. Nancy would never check on him, but his mom should have at some point. He silently made his way to his room and got into bed. Thinking of El's note put a smile on his face.

He had almost dropped off to sleep when he thought about El's note again... he bolted upright in bed. He grabbed his flashlight and got down on the floor and shone the light under his bed. El

That's when he saw it, breathing under his bed. At least it looked like it was breathing. Maybe it was more of a pulsing. It was gross either way.

It looked like a closed up Lady Slipper. He'd seen a picture one in a book Holly had about flowers. Only this one was a purplish-green, with reddish veins that pulsated on leafy looking skin. It was about the size of a badly rolled sleeping bag.

Mike was disgusted and almost paralyzed with fear. This must be what El had been warning him about. He started sweating profusely, he swallowed and carefully reached for the police radio and backed away. It didn't look like the thing could actually follow him. He didn't see any legs or means for it to move along the floor.

Could that thing be what had changed Will? Dustin? Dustin's mom? _His_ mom? Nancy, Troy? How did it get around so fast if it had no legs? Were the veins actually veins on a set of wings? Mike's head was swirling with questions. He didn't know _anything_.

Well, he knew one thing. There was no way he could sleep in the basement. There was no way he could sleep anywhere within a hundred yards of his house. There was no way he was going to sleep tonight. Period.

Mike had prepared his backpack and a gym bag with clothes the previous night and was glad he'd taken the time. He quietly left through his basement door. He strapped his gear to his bike and left. Down the street, away from the cul-de-sac. He pressed the talk button on the radio.

"El? Chief? I've seen it. I can't stay at my house… I don't know what to do." His voice was shaky but he managed to keep from crying.

"Wheeler." It was Chief Hopper's gruff voice. If you're on your bike, make your way to…" Mike heard a voice in the background that sounded a lot like Lucas. The Chief came back, "Mirkwood, Lucas said you know would know where that is... right?"

"I do, Sir."

"I'll be there with Lucas and Max. She will be with me too." Hopper said, he wanted Mike to know El would be waiting for him.

Mike thought he had the possibility of actually breaking his bicycle chain he was peddling so fast. It was like one foot wanted to get him away from his house as fast it could, and the other foot wanted to get him as fast as it could to where El waited.

After a few minutes of hard pedalling Mike saw truck far up ahead. He skidded to a stop. He was near Mirkwood, but could someone else have been listening in on their conversation? A light shone his way and blinked.

It was Morse code. Dot. Dash. E-L.

Mike stood on his pedals and raced the rest of the way there. After he stopped and laid his bike down, El rushed over held the sides of his head and peppered his face with kisses. "Mike." She breathed. Tears were running down her face. "It's ok, El. I'm here. It's still me."

She held onto his arm in a tight grip, Lucas came over, clapped him on the shoulder and grabbed Mike's gym bag.

Hopper stowed Mike's bike in the back of the truck. "Good, you packed. You aren't going back to your house. We are on the buddy system now. Lucas is staying with Max. You are staying with El."

"Who are you staying with Chief?" Mikes asked.

"Joyce, ah, Will's mom. Everyone ready? Let's go."

Mrs. Byers was sitting in front seat. She had a determined look on her face. She gave Mike a smile and a nod.

Max and Lucas sat behind the Chief in the back seat. Mike and El sat behind Mrs. Byers.

El was pressed firmly up against Mike from her ankles, to her hips, her arm firmly wrapped around his, her fingers tightly entwined with his own. She said quietly below the noise of the truck. "I'm not letting you out of my sight Mike. I'm..." El looked down, "sorry I didn't wait for you at your locker."

"It's ok, El, I think your note saved me. It's all I could think about. You'll have to tell me how you broke into my locker to do it." Mike smiled at her.

She smiled back at him. "I will tell you everything when we get home. There are… things you need to know. Not just about what's happening, but about me."

"As long as we're together El, I can handle anything. No matter how bad."

"It will be bad, but we'll be together forever Mike. I promise."


End file.
